Another dessert item I decided to take with me for Thanksgiving were these little cookies.  Okay, they really aren't little, but they sounded interesting none-the-less.  I needed to use up that big ol' can of pumpkin I had opened, and who doesn't like snickerdoodles?  Ingredients: for cookies: 1 cup butter, softened 1&1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 2&3/4 cup flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 teaspoons cinnamon and 3 teaspoons sugar...

  Pumpkin pie is a huge staple of Thanksgiving dinners.  Really- how often do you not see pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving?  It's blasphemous!      I, however, get tired of having the same thing over and over again.  It becomes mundane and boring.  When I signed up to bring a dessert, I knew that a pumpkin pie would not only be expected, but that I might very well get shot if I didn't!  Not wanting to do the same thing again though, I began searching for a twist on the traditional...

  A cheesecake I wanted to make for Thanksgiving called for caramel.  Well, I thought I would be snazzy and make my own at home.   When I got around to it, I realized I did not have enough of the heavy cream to make it.  Frantic, I searched for an alternative.  I knew you could make caramel using just a can of sweetened, condensed milk, however, I did not have the hours necessary to make it.   While scouring the Internet, I came across this recipe.  It...

  I have always wanted to make fresh bread, but have always been highly daunted by it.  The thought of having to knead, punch and let it rise just right always scared me enough to keep me at bay.   It was one of those things I always told myself I would get to- one day.    Then my boss brought in some fantastic homemade bread for Homemade Bread Day (which is November 17th, by the way).  I had expressed to her my desire and she shared with me this unbelievably easy recipe, which was...

  I have a love affair with banana bread.  It may not seem that way, because I do not make it often, and when I do, most of it is usually thrown away, uneaten.  Despite this, I do love banana bread.  However, I've also been searching for ways to use up those old, rotting bananas that my family will also enjoy.  Enough so that I am not throwing the majority of my work down the trash can's gullet at the end of a couple weeks.  You'd think I'd have grown more acquainted with my freezer, and I...